SaaS Hiring in the UK

From our research, we know that over 66% of Enterprise SaaS Executives would prefer to work for “US headquartered” SaaS firms. UK recruiters often possess the US-based, CEO and VP level relationships as well as with Venture Capital and Private Equity firms. UK recruiters approach, are approached by and referred to large numbers of Enterprise SaaS commercial executives based across Europe, open or looking for their next senior opportunity and they contact firms like Intrinsic Executive Search to take advantage of their network of contacts within hiring SaaS firms across both North America and Europe.

Since 1996, Intrinsic Executive Search has worked with literally hundreds of US and European Headquartered Enterprise Software and SaaS companies looking to scale across Europe. Often, the UK has been used as the initial European launch for a number of reasons. Strong UK/ US business relations, access to great Enterprise SaaS talent, more favourable employment laws compared to many other countries in Europe, the UK market opportunity and of course only 1 to 2 hour flight times to many of the main cities across Europe such as Munich, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin, Barcelona and Dublin.

Where do you open your first UK office?

This is a great question and it really depends on the nature of your Enterprise SaaS firm, the type of office culture you are looking to create and level of personnel.

London is of course an obvious choice, but it is very expensive to be based there and travel to and from. Many SaaS Executives would rather not work in London 5 days a week, hence candidate attraction and retention can be problematic. Trendy tech areas in London such as Shoreditch are popular with UK start-ups attracting many recent grads and early stage career employees where you are often expected to be in the office every day. For companies who sell their SaaS solutions into the London and surrounding markets such as Financial Services, having a London is also a popular choice. Other SaaS firms use London as a hub, whereby employees are only in the office for 1-3 days a week. WeWork offices in locations such as Holborn, Oxford Circus and Paddington have proved popular with emerging SaaS firms. The Thames Valley area (towns such as Reading and Bracknell) is an attractive alternative to London, having access a large SaaS workforce who reside in the local areas, but without the higher costs and train stress of travelling to London. The Thames Valley offer easy access to London and Heathrow / Gatwick airports.

For additional questions on SaaS hiring in the UK, or if you have any questions, please contact Ben Watkins.